STAND. COM. REP. NO. 649-04

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: H.B. No. 1796

H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 1796 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PRIVACY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to protect individual privacy by:

(1) Including digital recordings under the offense of violation of privacy; and

(2) Amending the offense of violation of privacy in the second degree to include photographic images among the types of private communications that may not be intercepted or divulged without the consent of the sender or receiver.

The Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women, Department of the Prosecuting Attorney for the City and County of Honolulu, Honolulu Police Department, and two concerned individuals testified in support of this bill. T-Mobile USA, Inc., expressed concerns over this measure and suggested amendments.

Your Committee finds that cellular telephones are capable of capturing photographic images and transmitting them in ways that invade individual privacy. This measure seeks to discourage such misuse of technology.

Your Committee has amended this bill by:

(1) Exempting from the provisions of this measure the dissemination, distribution, or transfer of images by an electronic communication service provider or remote storage service in the ordinary course of its business; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for style and clarity.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1796, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1796, H.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary,

 

____________________________

ERIC G. HAMAKAWA, Chair